How to do Methylene Blue Bath?

Grootzilla · Mar 9, 2022

Hey guys. My Randall goby has some puffy red gills from an ammonia spike I had in the tank I was holding him in due to poor circulation. I ordered some Methelyne Blue to give him a bath and start helping the gills to heal. Can someone give me some instructions as to how to do so? (i.e how long, ratio of water to medicine etc.)
The fish itself is doing fine. The ammonia spike happens a few days ago and I’ve added a power head to the tank to give more aeration and done several water changes at this points. He is eating and moving around normally. His gills are just very irritated.

Drummingbaker2010 · Mar 9, 2022

Grootzilla said:
Hey guys. My Randall goby has some puffy red gills from an ammonia spike I had in the tank I was holding him in due to poor circulation. I ordered some Methelyne Blue to give him a bath and start helping the gills to heal. Can someone give me some instructions as to how to do so? (i.e how long, ratio of water to medicine etc.)
The fish itself is doing fine. The ammonia spike happens a few days ago and I’ve added a power head to the tank to give more aeration and done several water changes at this points. He is eating and moving around normally.

Drummingbaker2010 · Mar 9, 2022

There should be instructions that came with the Methelyne. If not, that seems a little odd. I have not had any issues like that yet, but I would follow the provided guidelines.

Grootzilla · Mar 9, 2022

Drummingbaker2010 said:
There should be instructions that came with the Methelyne. If not, that seems a little odd. I have not had any issues like that yet, but I would follow the provided guidelines.

The bottle is coming in later today so we shall see then

Drummingbaker2010 · Mar 9, 2022

good luck

MnFish1 · Mar 9, 2022

Im not sure methylene blue is necessarily indicated for what you're doing (i.e. a dip) - as compared to dosing in a tank. For cyanide poisoning its ok as a dip - in some situations i.e. acute ammonia poisoning - it can be helpful . In your case - not so sure - (my impression is that this is for gill damage from a day or more ago? - and that the ammonia is now 'controlled'?). Some chemicals including water conditioning treatments can cause issues -with methylene blue - so be careful - according to which-ever product you're using.

I might consider just 'watching' - perhaps adding some stress coat, etc. Before I would consider methylene blue 'dip'

Grootzilla · Mar 9, 2022

MnFish1 said:
Im not sure methylene blue is necessarily indicated for what you're doing (i.e. a dip) - as compared to dosing in a tank. For cyanide poisoning its ok as a dip - in some situations i.e. acute ammonia poisoning - it can be helpful . In your case - not so sure - (my impression is that this is for gill damage from a day or more ago? - and that the ammonia is now 'controlled'?). Some chemicals including water conditioning treatments can cause issues -with methylene blue - so be careful - according to which-ever product you're using.

I might consider just 'watching' - perhaps adding some stress coat, etc. Before I would consider methylene blue 'dip'

So would you recommend holding off on a bath and only do it unless he takes a turn for the worse?
I just hate seeing how red his gills are

. Do you know how long that would take to heal on it’s own?

LeftyReefer · Mar 9, 2022

Methylene blue is fine to use as a dip/bath.

That's what Part B is of a Safety Stop 2-part dip. Not sure what ratio they use in that product, but they recommend a 45 min bath using that product.

per HumbleFish;

Dosing instructions for using 2.303% Methylene Blue solution:

1) 30 min bath (preferred): 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 5 gallons.

2) In a quarantine tank: 1 teaspoon (5 ml) per 10 gallons every other day for 10 days with water changes before each treatment.

MnFish1 · Mar 9, 2022

Grootzilla said:
So would you recommend holding off on a bath and only do it unless he takes a turn for the worse?
I just hate seeing how red his gills are . Do you know how long that would take to heal on it’s own?

Its not clear how long ago the injury occurred (except that it was days) - from your post. Also - I read he is eating, swimming, etc etc normally. SO - if you are going to treat the injury - to me the best thing is 'time'. However, if you want to treat with methylene blue thats fine too - I'm just not sure there is any information that its going to be helpful 'in a dip' to treat the gills. I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) - that catching it will be somewhat difficult/stressful on the fish.

Grootzilla · Mar 9, 2022

MnFish1 said:
Its not clear how long ago the injury occurred (except that it was days) - from your post. Also - I read he is eating, swimming, etc etc normally. SO - if you are going to treat the injury - to me the best thing is 'time'. However, if you want to treat with methylene blue thats fine too - I'm just not sure there is any information that its going to be helpful 'in a dip' to treat the gills. I'm assuming (perhaps incorrectly) - that catching it will be somewhat difficult/stressful on the fish.

It was about 5 days ago now when the spike happened. I am willing to wait since he is active and eating, I just want to make sure that the gills won’t get infected/get worse and it is unclear how long they will take to heal completely.

Jay Hemdal · Mar 9, 2022

Grootzilla said:
It was about 5 days ago now when the spike happened. I am willing to wait since he is active and eating, I just want to make sure that the gills won’t get infected/get worse and it is unclear how long they will take to heal completely.

The typical dose for methylene blue is 2 ppm for 24 hours or 4 ppm has a one hour dip. It will kill beneficial bacteria.

Methylene blue is pretty "old school". It is typically used nowadays as an oxygen donor for acute issues. Since the issue took place five days ago (?) it isn't acute. Maybe an antibiotic would be a better choice to try?

Jay